#19579
English is one of the most powerful tools in the world today. Why English and not another language? Writer Jeff Leiper offers some answers.
Leiper, Jeff. Writer's Block (1998). Articles>Language>Globalization
#30492
Establishing a Technical Translation and Software Localization Professional Interest Committee 
Conservative estimates suggest that the translation market is currently over $1 billion and growing at a rate of 15% annually. The impact of an increasingly global economy continues to be felt by many business people, not the least of whom are the technical communicators who are charged with the mission of writing with international audiences in mind. Producing culturally appropriate, quality translations requires an awareness of how documents intended for foreign markets should be written. The purpose of the proposed Technical Translation and Software Localization PIC is to increase awareness of localization issues and to provide a forum for discussion, information exchange and education for those technical communicators who are involved in international communication.
Burns, Ann Lyn. STC Proceedings (1993). Articles>Language>Localization>Technical Translation
#26702
Ethical Implications of Intercultural Audiences
Argues that it is crucial that technical writing courses raise the awareness of the implications of intercultural communication, and specifically, how to include the translator as the target audience.
Heitzman, Lisa. Orange Journal, The (2005). Articles>Language>Ethics>Rhetoric
#25792
The European Association for Machine Translation
The European Association for Machine Translation (EAMT) is an organization that serves the growing community of people interested in MT and translation tools, including users, developers, and researchers of this increasingly viable technology.
EAMT (2005). Articles>Language>Translation>Machine Translation
#23431
European Association for Terminology
The European Association for Terminology (EAFT) was formed in 1996 and the first few years of its existence were largely taken up with organisational issues. Recently, however, the EAFT has become more active setting up a European Terminology Information Server (ETIS) and co-organising conferences. The EAFT has also established a number of special interest groups, including SIGs in terminology training and in minority languages.
Lervad, Susanne. TC-FORUM (2000). Articles>Language>Glossary
#23474
The European Language Resources Association: Promoting Language Resources in Europe
The European Language Resources Association (ELRA) was founded in February 1995 as a membership association, by a number of leading academic and private-sector bodies in co-operation with the European Commission. As a non-profit making organisation, ELRA aims to serve as a focal point for the collection, marketing, distribution and licensing of language resources, as well as being a provider of general information in the field of language engineering. Day-to-day operations are run by the European Language Distribution Agency (ELDA), while the strategies and plans of ELRA are set by the member-elected board.
#18497
Facets of Software Localization
That information technology has revolutionized the translator's working environment is a fact so obvious that it no longer even bears mentioning. For the vast majority of translators and their clients, computers have long since replaced typewriters and reams of paper. Modems and e-mail have replaced manila envelopes, mass storage devices have replaced drawers full of folders, CD-ROMs supplement dictionaries and encyclopedias, and more recently the Internet and its resources more and more often save us a trip to the library, while various online communities have brought many translators out of their isolation. But information technology not only offers us tools. It is itself a field in which more and more translation work is actually executed. As in other fields, this is certainly true of marketing materials, packaging materials, advertising copy, and manuals. But in the case of information technology products, it is frequently the products themselves that need to be translated. Whenever a program or process displays a word or a phrase on the screen, this means potential work for one or many translators.
Dohler, Per N. SDL International. Articles>Language>Localization>Software
#23483
Fast Online (Machine) Translation - But...?
Even if the attainable quality of automatic translation systems is insufficient under certain conditions, and despite careful preparation of the original text, nevertheless the translation provides a useful basis for a technical translator. The automatic translation greatly simplifies the production of a foreign language text and leads, all in all, to an efficient translation process. For example, the translation of a customer Website with the help of an automatic translation system (i.e. post-edited machine translation) cost us only a third of the time, which we had previously calculated as pure 'manual work'.
Thiele, Ulrich. TC-FORUM (1999). Articles>Language>Localization>Machine Translation
#24052
How can a homograph be the same as a heterograph? And how can heterograph, which comes from roots meaning 'different writing,' be applied to a word that differs in every way except the way it is written?
Ivey, Keith C. Editorial Eye, The (1997). Articles>Language>Diction
#31647
Following the Road Untraveled: From Source Language to Translation to Localization 
A-dec Inc. is a dental equipment manufacturer headquartered in Newberg, Oregon. A 40-year leader in the dental products industry, A-dec/spl trade/ has targeted the international market as their growth market. The change in scope has brought with it the recognition that the A-dec Technical Communications team must address how to align their content to support an international audience, as well as clearly communicate the company's core values. The process has been ongoing and dynamic as new discoveries occur. They faced the challenge of understanding the differences between translation and localization, which started their education in the area of necessary requirements for competing in the international marketplace. This case study discusses their journey towards creating a globalized product.
Ledet, Denise and Rahel Anne Bailie. IEEE PCS (2005). Articles>Language>Translation>Localization
#26186
Formatting Issues (part of Globalization and Localization Issues)
This article addresses all formatting concerns related to software localization. It discusses country and regional differences in addresses, currency, dates, numerals, paper sizes, telephone numbers, time and units of measure. Very thorough!
Microsoft (2004). Articles>Language>Localization
#19551
Franglais in Canada: Does It Facilitate or Impede Clear Expression?
Pits the Pragmatic Many against the Snobbish Few in an attempt to discover what, if anything, Franglais contributes to clear expression. Is lexical and grammatical cross-pollination a sign of the type of dynamic evolution that enhances communication or a sign of a form of bastardization that impedes clear expression?
Mayotte, Anne-Marie. Writer's Block (2000). Articles>Language>Regional>Canada
#27829
From a Wasteland of Words to Corporate Language
In recent years, the subject of terminology and its significance to technical documentation has gained importance. Training and education are paying more and more attention to this area, and an increasing number of software companies are offering sophisticated solutions to give companies a technological tool for handling terms efficiently.
Schaefer, Gregor. tekom (2006). Articles>Language>Business Communication
#19052
From Gobbledygook to Plain English: How a Large State Agency Took on the Bureaucratic Form Letter
In an effort to reduce phone calls and improve customer service, the Washington State Department of Labor and Industries(L&I), in July 2001, launched 'Plain Talk' – a year-long project to rewrite 100 bureaucratic form letters into plain English. Hundreds of thousands of form letters are used each year by L&I to process claims, to issue workplace safety and health citations, and to handle many other workplace issues. As the Plain Talk project manager, I decided to focus on the department’s highest-frequency form letters and now work with 12 programs to rewrite them into clear and simple language. The effort is backed by a strong message from the governor and agency director, high-quality training, ongoing mentoring, and “reality check” usability testing. The project is due to be completed by the end of June 2002.
Botka, Dana Howard. STC Proceedings (2002). Articles>Language>Writing>Minimalism
#27901
For some time now, machines have been constructed and built using modules. i.e. encapsulated and reusable standard components. In manuals, the modular approach has only slowly been gaining acceptance. With XML and a wide variety of editing tools, the technical prerequisites for the change are by now only a matter of the individual requirements – a right solution can be found for virtually every purpose. But for technical communicators the question arises what needs to be considered when texting under these changed conditions. This language tip is intended to be a basic aspect: how can one determine whether a text component is suited as a module?
Nickl, Markus. tekom (2005). Articles>Language>Technical Writing
#24916
Global to the Core, or, Why IBM Can't Tell You How Much Money It Spends on Globalization
LISA is in the process of updating its Localization Primer, a publication read by people around the world interested in learning about localization. As part of this process LISA decided to update some figures about how companies spend their localization budget, so Mike Anobile called up Bill Sullivan of IBM to ask him how IBM spends its localization budget. Bill replied that he couldn't say, that he had no idea how much money IBM spends on globalization or what areas the money is spent in. What's more, he said that he was "delighted and indeed proud that [IBM does] not have that data".
Sullivan, Bill. LISA (2003). Articles>Language>Localization
#10724
For many people, setting up a Web site is their first experience with publishing documents for an international audience. It's true (for now) that most of the computers on the Internet are in the United States, but the Net includes computers in more than a hundred countries. If you put information on the Web, people from all over the world can read it. At least 15 percent of the visitors to the EEI Web pages are from outside the United States. In the first few days of the new year, pages were viewed by people from two dozen countries, including Croatia, Malaysia, the United Arab Emirates, and Venezuela. It's not called the World Wide Web for nothing.
Ivey, Keith C. Editorial Eye, The (1996). Articles>Language>Translation>Localization
#10377
Going Online: Helping Technical Communicators Help Translators 
What can technical communicators do to design documents that are easier, and therefore less costly, to translate without sacrificing quality? Nearly all writers/designers concern themselves primarily with the users of the document, the primary audience, when considering translation while overlooking the secondary audience-the translators. If the source document is not written with translation in mind, translation costs can escalate. Writers/designers can, though, help reduce the translators' cognitive load by supporting them in solving language and cultural problems. In this article, we will explain why technical communicators should help translators, and we will offer some tips to creating 'translation friendly' documentation. We will also describe the research and design process involved in creating an online tutorial on writing and designing for translation which was developed for a local Twin Cities company. Although we discovered during the course of our research that there is not one generic approach
Flint, Patricia, Melanie Lord van Slyke, Doreen Starke-Meyerring and Aimee Thompson. Technical Communication Online (1999). Articles>Language>Localization
#12964
Good, Fast, Cheap: Translation Memory Systems Offer the Potential for All Three 
For technical communicators exploring translation services, a relatively new technology can help provide consistency among translated documents, make the translation process more efficient, and make translation projects cost effective. Translation memory systems assist human translators by following along as a document is translated, creating a database of translated material and terminology, and allowing translators to access previously translated material easily. Using this technology, translators can translate, save, and reuse material, making the resulting translations highly consistent and the overall process more efficient and cost effective than working without this technology. In this exploratory article, we explain the evolution toward translation memory systems, discuss why and when they're particularly useful for helping translate technical documentation, and offer guidelines for determining whether translation memory systems are appropriate for your translation needs.
Ray, Deborah S. and Eric J. Ray. TECHWR-L (1999). Articles>Language>Localization
#13761
Back in 1990, Leonard and Gilsdorf presented 45 instances of questionable usage, in full-paragraph contexts, to both academics and working business executives. These usage elements included sentence fragments, assorted punctuation problems, pronoun–antecedent (dis)agreement, and various examples of questionable word choice. Their intent was to assess the “botheration level” of each usage “error”; their conclusions were that 1) academics are (nearly) always bothered by usage “errors” more than executives and 2) usage elements that bothered survey respondents the least were evolving over time into acceptable English usage. Just over ten years later, these same researchers have followed up on their original study and have drawn similar conclusions from the more recent data.
Manning, Alan D. IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication (2002). Articles>Language>Style Guides
#31422
The Hazards of Translating Legal Documents
The issue of translation is a global one and doesn't just relate to mistranslations by American and British English speakers. Today, poor translation can be particularly dangerous given the speed at which events are reported. How dangerous? According to the Dow Jones Newswire of 12 May 2005, one mistake was worth several billion U.S. dollars.
Frievalds, John. Communication World Bulletin (2005). Articles>Language>Legal>Translation
#29779
Helping Chinese-American Professionals To Develop Their Technical Writing Skills
Three components of American English create great difficulty for Chinese-American college students and professionals trying to improve their technical writing. They are the articles ('a,' 'an,' and 'the'); prepositions; and verb tense. This paper reveals key reasons for these difficulties and explains how to ease them. It is meant to assist teachers, editors, and the Chinese-Americans who write for them. As a starting point, teachers and editors need to know how the Chinese language differs from English in its treatment of these three components. So informed, they can take appropriate actions to bring about improvement.
Mazzatenta, Ernest D. STC Proceedings (2004). Articles>Language>Writing>Technical Writing
#14425
The Heritage of American Heritage
The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition, 2000, is a massive, 2074-page volume with fascinating articles on the roots of the language and current usage. The First Edition appeared in 1969, only eight years after the Merriam-Webster Third New International Dictionary aroused a storm of protest that resounds to this day. Philip Gove, Webster’s editor, had reduced the number of entries from 600,000 to 450,000, but included 100,000 new definitions, many attached to words like beatnik. He had also used sources like Art Linkletter and TWA timetables, maintaining that not all language is formal. He had decreased use of the 'slang' label and banished 'colloquial' entirely, relying instead on quotations that gave a feel for words in context. Gove was denounced as 'permissive.' He had even included ain’t in the dictionary (with a note 'disapproved by many'). A New Yorker cartoon depicted a Merriam-Webster receptionist responding, 'Dr. Gove ain’t in.'
Bush, Donald W. Lore (2002). Articles>Language>History
#14779
The Heritage of the American Heritage Dictionary
Bush explains the history of the American Heritage Dictionary and discusses how the dictionary has evolved from its first edition, published in 1969, to its fourth, published in 2000.
Bush, Donald W. Intercom (2002). Articles>Language>History
#26855
How Document Design Helps English Learners Master Science
Explores how basic, scaffolded technical-writing exercises can help ESL students gain cognitive maturity, practice science literacy, improve their note taking, and use text signals and science idioms more effectively.
Girill, T.R. ACM SIGDOC (2005). Articles>Education>Document Design>Language
